Carpet gripper



H. J. HILL CARPET GRIPPEH Filed Aug. 27, 1965 Nov. 21, 1967 .Z9/ir. 4..

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[waa-riga Il 5y H/5 ATTIQA/Ey HAE/@5, MECH) RUSSELL, KSQA/ United States Patent Orifice 3,353,264 Patented Nov. 2l, 1967 3,353,204 CARPET GRPPER Harvey J. Hill, Monterey Park, Calif., assigner to Roberts Consolidated Industries, Inc., City of Industry, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Aug. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 483,125 3 Claims. (Cl. 1616) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A plywood carpet gripper strip having a laterallyoutwardly-projecting upper flange under which the edge of carpeting may be tucked, and having a laterallyinwardly-projecting lower ange the upper surface of wln'ch is engageable by a padding trimming knife. This lower ange protects both the knife and a floor to which the gripper strip is attached.

Background of the invention The present invention relates in general to carpet grippers for securing the edges of carpeting and, more particularly, to a gripper strip of the type having carpet hooking elements which project upwardly above the upper side or surface of the strip and which are inclined outwardly toward an outer edge of the strip to secure an edge of carpeting overlying the strip against inward movement relative to a room in which the carpeting is installed.

A gripper strip of the foregoing nature is ordinarily used with its outer edge adjacent7 but spaced from, a wall in installing wall to wall carpeting. The raw edge of the carpeting is turned downwardly and tucked into the space between the wall and the outer edge of the strip to conceal it. Frequently, the outer edge of the strip is beveled downwardly and inwardly of the strip to provide additional space (for a given spacing of the strip from the wall) into which excess carpeting can be tucked, thereby reducing the precision with which the carpeting must be trimmed. (The spacing of the strip from the wall is preferably slightly less than the thickness of the carpeting so that the carpeting is compressed when the excess is tucked into the space between the strip and the wall. Such compression is necessary to resist unhooking of the carpeting under the inuence of shufing feet, shifting furniture, vacuum-cleaner suction, and the like.)

Normally, the carpeting is installed over padding with the edge of the padding more-or-less abutting the inner edge of the strip. This abutting relation is ordinarily attained by trimming the padding by running a knife along the inner edge of the strip as a guide, the point of the knife being in engagement with the door adjacent the inner edge of the strip. With this procedure, an accurate fit between the gripper strip and the padding is achieved.

Summary and objects of the invention A primary object of the invention is to provide a gripper strip of the foregoing general type wherein the configuration of the strip in cross section is such that more space is available between the outer edge of the strip and an adjacent wall (for a given spacing of the strip from the wall) to receive the corresponding edge of the carpeting, as compared to a strip having a beveled outer edge. This additional space reduces the accuracy with which the carpeting needs to be trimmed, which is an important feature. Another object in this connection is to provide the additional space mentioned with less wastage of the material of which the strip is made than is the case with the beveled outer edge mentioned.

Another primary object of the invention is to provide a gripper strip having a cross sectional coniiguration such that the inner edge of the strip may be used as a knife guide in cutting padding without engagement of the point of the knife with the door. This construction eliminates scoring of the iloor in the case `of a wooden door, or other floor surface capable of being scored, and minimizes the excessive dulling and wearing away of the point of the knife which is encountered when the oor is of concrete, or other hard material. When the inner edge of a conventional gripper strip is used as a knife guide for cutting padding on a concrete oor, the point of the knife must be sharpened frequently. The present invention minimizes the necessity for sharpening the knife, which is an important feature.

Considering the invention more specifically now, important objects are to provide an outer, upper flange extending longitudinally of the gripper strip and projecting laterally outwardly from the outer edge thereof and having an upper surface forming an outward extension of the upper side of the strip, and to provide an inner, lower ilange extending longitudinally of the strip and projecting laterally inwardly from the inner edge thereof and having a lower surface forming an inward extension of the lower side of the strip. j

The upper flange mentioned provides space therebeneath into which the edge of the carpeting may be tucked, thereby providing more carpet-receiving space between the outer edge of the strip and the Wall than is available with the beveled outer edge hereinbefore discussed.

The gripper strip is preferably made of wood, or a similarly relatively soft and nonabrasive material, and the lower ange mentioned provides a knife-supporting surface which prevents scoring of the door and/ or excessive wear of the point of the knife when the knife is run along the inner edge of the strip in cutting the padding to fit.

Thus, the simple expedient of providing the strip with the upper and lower flanges mentioned attains the primary objectives of the invention with a very simple structure, which is an important feature.

A further object of the invention is to make the strip of three-ply plywood and to utilize portions of the upper and lower plies as the upper and lower flanges, respectively, the upper flange having a thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the upper ply and the lower flange having a thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the lower ply.

Another object is to minimize wastage of the plywood used to make the gripper strip of the invention by discarding only a small portion of the center ply between each pair of adjacent gripper strips.

The foregoing objects, advantages, features and results of the present invention, together with various other objects, features, advantages and results thereof which will be evident to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, may be achieved with the exemplary embodiment of the invention described in detail hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Description of the drawing FIG.` l is a fragmentary perspective view of a carpet gripper of the invention with padding overlying it in a position to be trimmed;

FIG. 2 is an enla-rged sectional view, taken along the arrowed line 2 2 of FIG. 1, illustrating one way of trimming the padding in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but illustrating another way of trimming the padding in accordance with the invention; and

F'IG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3, but showing the padding after trimming and showing carpeting 3 which y,has been secured by the gripper strip with the raw edge of the carpeting tucked downwardly into an enlarged space provided by the invention* The carpetgripper. ofthe invention isdesignatd; gen; erally by the numerall and is shown secured to a door 1 2 adjacent, but spaced fromNa wall 14,1.as isconi/ enfV tional in any lwall to Wallcarpeting installation. Prefer.- ably, the carpet,y gripper 10. is nailed to the ;-iic or-12, onel nail4 being Ashow-n at 16 ein 1, but italso may. begA securedin other.waysasfbyadheringgit to thel oor.r

The Vcarpet gripperA comprises a long,VY narrow,-.vg`rgip pervstrip .having upper.-andlowersurfaces1or sides- A `22, and,24 andouter and innere'dges 26, and 28.,-Theade jectiv'es douter. and innery are: used herein .with reference to the .iioor 12 .beinggcarpetei V.t-heouterredgef 261; of the gripper strip 20 being the edge thereof, nearest .theyV corresponding routerv edgeL of .theiioor.

'Izhe carpet. gripper 10 includes a plurality-of carpethooking elements 30. carried Aby .thevgripper striprlihandgi projecting upwardly. aboveth'eupper Side.22. of -the strip and inclined outwardly toward :the outeredge 26 there-f1 of tov secure carpeting 32, FIG. 4,.overlyingtheupper, side of the -gripper strip.. Preferably, asistconventional,V the gripper strip 20. is made of wood.and,the,carpet,hookr ing elements ,30, are nails driven throughI thestrip froml the lower side 24 thereof. To prevent,splitting,YL theagriprY per strip 20ispreferably madeeofplywood. In, the ,construction illustrated, .v three-ply-plywood; is ,used. More particularly, the gripper stripV 20 comprises; an. ,upper.rply, 34, an. intermediateply 36 and arlowenplyS..

The upperply 34 projects ,beyondtheouter edge 26 of... the gripper strip 20 and thelower. ply .38..projectsinwardly beyond Y.the inner edge ,'28,.of, the.grippe r strip.v

The eect is to.provide.thelgripperistrip..Ztltgwitlran.. outer, upper` flange 42 extending, longitudinally of.,l:l1e..:` strip and projecting laterally outwardlyffronl the ".outer.V edge 26 thereof and having an uppeLsurfaceiormingfan outward extensionwof the upper, side. 22 ofthe ,strip,..and to provide thepstrip withal! inner,,l0wer,ila.nge.44-fex1.g fendinglongitudinallylof vthe.strip.?.111. 1..r rr01`retine laterally?. inwardly from the inner edge, .2& thereofyanddayinga lower surface forming an inward, extension ..of .the.lower side 24 ofthe strip, Tlie uppenandloyver.ilanges.42a.and. 44 may be formed with minimum wastageof the plywood. r, sheet from whichthe gripper strip 201s made.

For a given spacing of theuter; edgenofihetupper. ply` 34. from the Ywall '14, the/inward displacement, of ,the outer edges of the intermediate and lower. plies,.36'.and. 38 resulting from the presence of the outwardlylprojecting upper ange 42 Aincreases the volume. of `the,.,space for,... gully 46 between the gripper strip, 20 andthe wall 14,123. compared to conventional .gripperstripswhereinthe outer.. edges of all plies arein the same' verticalplanegonwherein theouter edgeof the gripper.strip,is.beveledso the outer. edges Yof the plies areinA a plane slopingxdown.

wardly andinwardly. Inthejirst instancqthe,additionaki gully4 volume .isequal .ta/ the volume under.the l`upper' ange 42, and, in the, secondl ,instance,. the. .additionaLvol-- urne is vequal to one-,half the volume-,under,.thempperevange. i

The additional -volume for the gullylwhich the presentinvention provides-permits tuckingy.a..greater volume ofthe carpeting32 into the gully after. the carpeting.has.. been stretched, hooked onto the carpethookinglements 30, and trimmed, ask shown in FIG. 4 ofthe drawing. 4Consequently, the operation of trimming vthe edge,4 ofthecarpetinghdoesvnot need to be carried out ,asiaccurately, 0

which is an important feature oftheenlarged.gullyl V46 provided bythe outwardlyprojecting Aupper. flange 42 v. of the invention since it saves time in installing Vthe carpet-V ngv32.

Turning now tothe inwardly projecting lower. iiangel 4 44, it may be used as a support for a knife 50' employed to trim padding $2 by running the knife along the inner edge 28 of the gripper strip 20j with the point ofthe knife sliding along the upper surface of the lower flange 44. The knife may be positioned substantially vertically in trimming the paddingSZ, .asshoyvn in FIG. 2 of the drawing, yorit maybeinclined at an angle, asshown in-FIG. 3 thereof. With the procedure. shown n. FIG. 2the inner edge 28 of the gripper strip 20 isengaged bythe side of the knife 50l to guidezthe knife-Withthe procedure of FIG. 3, the point of thefknifeisguided by the corner between the inner edge 28 of the gripper strip 20 and the upper surface of the lower flange 44.

In either case, any excess padding is trimmed off to provide a padding edge vS4 which drops` down intomoreor-less abutting `relation with theinner-edge281of the gripper stripv 20, as shown in FIG. 4 ofthe drawingffhe padding VVedge 54 does not abut the inner edgeZS ofthe, gripper strip 20 perfectly when the paddingl 52'is trimmedVJ inthis way, ,aswill be clear from .FIG.' 4. However-,- pre, cision fitting is not necessary since the .padding A52 issoft' and resilient and will readily conform to the slight irregularity provided by the power flange 44.

The inwardly projecting.lowert flange. 44T has an extremely important function in that, by providing a wooden surface for. the point vof. the Vknife- Steto slide i along, it eliminates the rapid dulling and wearing away of the knife point which is normally encountered-.by slidingthehpointf of-ltl'ie knifealonga concreteiioor inV the-absence ofthelower flange 44.` Thus, resharpening ofthe knife 50 is f necessary only infrequently, as'compared to conventional gripper; Strips. .without the' lower flange 44;- forf protectingY theapontofgthe knife.A lFurthermore, inthe-.case ofI a wooden floor, the presence oftheflower flangeit elim-Y inates scoringof theoor.

Thus,-the simple expedient-of forming the. gripper strip 20.-.=withf.the .upper and lowerltlangesfAZ and .44;.provides1- additional gully space '.(for a given spacing ofthe-upperv ply 34 from .the wall) and Vprovides protection-for the. knife50 and the floor 12, all'with. a very simple-structure, rwhich an important feature'of ythe inventionultfshould fi beznoted that :the presence yof theV lower flange. 44 permits increasing. the. gully space without increasingV thespatinglA ofatheaupper, ply from .the wall,. andx without any reduce. tioninfthe strip. width in contact with thevoor, the latter-y being ;irnportant'ftoprovide .adequateiresistance Vtoathe forces :appliedin stretching the carpeting.;

Although an exemplary embodiment of the invention-1 hasbeen -disclosedgherein for l purposes of illustratiom: it will be gunderstood.. that;A various changes, modifications: and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiai.. mentzwithoutideparting from the spirit oftheinvention asfdeiinedby the claimswhichfollow.

I claimas my invention:

1. gin la carpet-gripper, thecombination of::

(af),v a long, narrow. strip, of iwood 4Vhavingupper and 1 lower sides andouter. and inner edges;

(b), said-,lowerzside of said strip. being engageableL-withn a -iioorgand said, outer, edge thereof being. engageable by a downturned edge of carpeting overlying. saidf. upper side of said strip; w

(c) an outer, upper integral flange extending longitudinally'of saidistripand projecting laterally outwardly fromesaidouter edge; thereof andV 'having fan upperv surface forming. an outward'extension of said upper- Side of said strip;

(dy-an. inner, lower'integral flange extending-,longitudinally of said strip and projecting laterally inwardly from said inner edge thereof and Ahaving a lower surface forming an. inward extension-*ofv said lower side of said strip;

(e) said-*upper flange projecting laterallyl outwardly.

from. said outer edge'of said strip and said; lower, flange projecting laterally inwardly from saidinner edgevof; Said istrip substantially .equal-distancesso that a;

upper and lower anges project laterally outwardly and OTHER REFERENCES inwardly from their lrespective edges a distance less than 10 Ad t, 1 f C T 1 C R d b the height of said :Strip f ver isinlgggircu ar o irget o0 s o. eceive e- 3. A carpet gnpper as defined in claim 1 wherein said Ore Dec' 4 3' Pages 1 an strip is of three ply plywood, said upper Vand lower anges eing of a thickness at least equal to the thickness of their MARVIN A CHAMPION P'lmmy Examine" respective upper and lower plies. 15 D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A CARPET GRIPPER, THE COMBINATION OF: (A) A LONG, NARROW STRIP OF WOOD HAVING UPPER AND LOWER SIDES AND OUTER AND INNER EDGES; (B) SAID LOWER SIDE OF SAID STRIP BEING ENGAGEABLE WITH A FLOOR AND SAID OUTER EDGE THEREOF BEING ENGAGEABLE BY A DOWNTURNED EDGE OF CARPETING OVERLYING SAID UPPER SIDE OF SAID STRIP; (C) AN OUTER, UPPER INTEGRAL FLANGE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID STRIP AND PROJECTING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY FROM SAID OUTER EDGE THEREOF AND HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE FORMING AN OUTWARD EXTENSION OF SAID UPPER SIDE OF SAID STRIP; (D) AN INNER, LOWER INTEGRAL FLANGE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID STRIP AND PROJECTING LATERALLY INWARDLY FROM SAID INNER EDGE THEREOF AND HAVING A LOWER SURFACE FORMING AN INWARD EXTENSION OF SAID LOWER SIDE OF SAID STRIP; (E) SAID UPPER FLANGE PROJECTING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY FROM SAID OUTER EDGE OF SAID STRIP AND SAID LOWER FLANGE PROJECTING LATERALLY INWARDLY FROM SAID INNER EDGE OF SAID STRIP-SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL DISTANCES SO THAT SAID STRIP IS SUBSTANTIALLY SYMMETRICAL IN CROSS SECTION; AND (F) A PLURALITY OF CARPET HOOKING ELEMENTS CARRIED BY SAID STRIP AND PROJECTING UPWARDLY ABOVE SAID UPPER SIDE OF SAID STRIP AND INCLINED OUTWARDLY TOWARD SAID OUTER EDGE OF SAID STRIP TO SECURE CARPETING OVERLYING SAID UPPER SIDE OF SAID STRIP. 